Reflections and observations on the expatriate experience from an American scientist living and working in the Netherlands.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I think…

A surprising number of problems can be solved by having patience, being nice, and splitting the cost of getting what I really want. The process also teaches me the true value of what I’m asking for.

After watching the documentary “This is It”, I think Michael Jackson was amazingly talented and passionate about what he did. After watching “The September Issue”, I think that Anna Wintour is not.

Being popular is not the same as being better.

I am so glad that summer was waiting for me here when I stepped off the plane.

I wish that Robert James Waller, David Lodge, and Loreena McKennitt would do more writing again.

If Spotify is the European Alternative to iTunes, why can’t I sign up from most of Europe?

It’s becoming harder and harder for people to follow all of the moving parts in my life, and there just isn’t time to explain. As a result, I am increasingly misinterpreted.

Many people seem to be distressingly comfortable with being ignorant. Few understand why they hold opinions on complex issues; they can only cite the opinions of other uninformed people. Yet they don’t believe the people who know the most about a topic, and are proud of that populism.

Scooters should not be allowed on Dutch bike paths. They’re too fast, too much, on the narrower lanes. And, yes, I feel older for saying that.

Simple things should not be made difficult just because “There are rules.” Banks, realtors, car dealers in Europe have to do a better job of serving their customers.

The Dutch tend to dress above what Americans would wear for casual occasions. They wear a button-shirt and slacks where I might wear a polo shirt and jeans. It’s forced me to ‘up my game.

The MacArthur Fellowships are a great idea: Society has to have a mechanism for allowing talented people to do something that they care about doing, something that they want to do, and that people want them to create. Free market capitalism utterly fails at this.

There are few “game changers” in the technology marketplace. The iPhone and iPod were; the iPod Touch and iPad are not.

There is still something about the experience of reading a book that transcends the words and the fonts; eReaders have not captured that quality; I don’t know if they can.

Truth is found in quiet open places where the light and the wind fill my mind, and in late conversations over warm drinks amidst long-standing friends.

When I travel, I would rather spend money on a good dinner than a good hotel.